I just love this place. I put a simple posting that I am going to the woods, and bingo, there is a song. For all you newbies, this is what you can expect from some of the most creative and talented musicians you will find anywhere. Bert and Barbara, you have just given me a bit to use in our gigs. If any of the rest of you have additional lyrics, please post 'em here.

Hey Dan, how you doin'? We actually didn't do any fishing. We were so intent on the music that we literally fell asleep doing it. I will tell you about the place and then how it went.

The Barothy Lodge is in the northwestern part of the lower peninsula. If you look at a map of Michigan, find the intersection of US131 and US10. Go west about 30 miles or so on US10 and you will come to the wee town of Walhalla. Straight south is the Pere Marquette River. It is a storied river with some of the great fly fishing for trout to be found anywhere. The place we stay in is this great huge lodge with all glass facing the river. It is deep in the woods. The name of the cabin we stay in is Riverbend, named that because the PM comes straight at you and pulls about a 140 degree turn and goes downstream away from you. The cabin sits atop a 30' highbank right on the bend. The view is magnificent and inspiring. At some point I will see if we got a picture that does it justice and post it someplace.

We arrive at various times on Friday and set up the chow. I had a pot of chili on the stove warm and waiting for when the lads and I felt like eating. Cookies, Banana bread, chips and salsa, bean dip, and plenty of "that vile black stuff" as our dear friend, the fair Alison calls it. And a fresh bottle of John Jamesons very finest Irish whiskey, just in case someone prefers a drop of the "craither". When folks arrive we tune and just start playing and singing. Friday is the night where we play whatever the hell we feel like playing. The craic was fierce and we finally drifted off to bed at about 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning. Ole Jon, our bass and concertina player, got up and made breakfast and had it served up and sitting on plates for us at about 9:00 on saturday morning. The man himself has a second calling as a short order cook if he ever needs work. The food was great, but I told him if he ever got near a coffee pot again, I would have to hunt him down. The coffee was as bad as the food was good. And the food was very, very good. After eating and a little jaw time, we went to work on cleaning up some arrangements, solving some timing problems that had developed, and working on arrangements for new material. It was a very productive day and we got some nice stuff down on tape, very rough as we just had a mic in the middle of the room. But you could hear nice tight harmonies and arrangements. About 6:00 Michael Scott and Mike McMillan cooked venison steaks and made us a great dinner. It was magnificent. We then had a jamb session and talk about eclectic. One of the lads brought a pre 64 Stratocaster and we played everything from Woody Gutherie to Bob Dylan to Buffalo Springfield to Doc Watson to John Prine to C,S&N to the Saw Doctors to the Pogues.........you get the picture. The last of us (me) fell into bed about 2 AM. The next morning we did a great version of a song called "Isle of Hope" with a neat guitar-mandolin dual lead piece for the interlude. The mandolin plays a standard break with the guitar filling the 'spaces' with little blues riffs. It sounds great. We then worked on an arrangement of 'Planxty Irwin' that we do, but I was brain/finger locked and couldn't, for some reason, do my 12 string guitar solo right. Just one of those days. We then cleaned and packed, sang "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" to our ancestors in thanks for the gift of song, then sang "The Parting Glass" to each other and left for home.

The weekend was wonderful, but I often found myself thinking how enjoyable it would be if some of us here at the Mudcat could find a way to do the same thing. You were all often in my thoughts, and your sage advice was used and appreciated. I hope I haven't bored you, but several have asked on ICQ and through Email how it went.

All the best,

Mick Lane